(a) Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as an “LCD”) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. The LCD includes two display panels including electric field generating electrodes, the electric field generating electrodes including pixel electrodes and a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two display panels. In the LCD, voltages are applied to the electric field generating electrode to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer. Due to the generated electric field, liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer align and a polarization of incident light is controlled, thereby an displaying image.
The LCD also includes switching elements electrically connected to the respective pixel electrodes, and a plurality of signal lines, including gate lines and data lines, for controlling the switching elements and applying voltages to the pixel electrodes.
A type of LCD is a vertical alignment mode LCD. In a vertical alignment mode LCD, major axes of the liquid crystal molecules are disposed so as to be vertical relative to the display panels in a state in which an electric field is not applied. The vertical alignment mode LCD has been widely used due to its high contrast ratio and wide reference viewing angle. The reference viewing angle refers to a viewing angle that is 1:10 in contrast ratio, or a critical angle of gray-to-gray luminance reversion.
One method for side visibility to approximate front visibility in a vertical alignment mode LCD is a method which causes a different transmittance from two subpixels disposed by dividing a pixel into two subpixels and applying different voltages to the two subpixels.
An exemplary method of causing different transmittance from two subpixels includes applying a same voltage to two subpixels and reducing a voltage of one of the two subpixels by using a separate switching element. In this structure, when the semiconductor layer is disposed under the data conductor, a capacitance of a capacitor is not uniform due to the semiconductor layer such that it can be difficult to control the voltage of the two subpixels.